Turkish revisits Croatia Airlines acquisition options


Turkish Airlines is interested in acquiring a stake in its Croatian counterpart following a visit by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the country last week, local media report. Mr Erdogan was accompanied by over one hundred Turkish businessmen, among which were representatives from the carrier. The two countries agreed to further strengthen economic cooperation, particularly in the tourism sector, after they held a Croatian-Turkish Economic Forum, attended by 150 Turkish and 450 Croatian businesspeople. "I think that we will soon triple our investments in the Croatian tourism sector. We are interested in privatisation projects which are under way in Croatia", the Turkish President said. Both Turkish Airlines and its Croatian counterpart are members of the Star Alliance group.

Turkish Airlines has been linked to a possible equity investment in Croatia Airlines on several occasions, most recently last year. In a statement made to EX-YU Aviation News in 2015 concerning the matter, the Turkish carrier said, "Any major issue concerning Turkish Airlines such as joint ventures require a board decision of our company, which must be communicated to the Stock Exchange in order to advise our shareholders. Since we don’t have such a relevant board decision, we are not able to comment on such rumours". Turkish Airlines has been steadily increasing its operation to Croatia over the past few years and now runs double daily flights between Istanbul's Ataturk Airport and Zagreb. On the other hand, Croatia Airlines has suspended the route, with its slots taken over by Turkish. Furthermore, the two enjoy a codeshare partnership on the service, which has just been expanded to cover domestic flights in Croatia. On May 10, Dubrovnik will become Turkish Airlines' second destination in Croatia. "The new route between Istanbul and Dubrovnik will be the beginning of a new story for both countries", Dubrovnik's Mayor said over the weekend.


Turkish Airlines' CEO, Temel Kotil, previously noted that the carrier is looking into acquiring other carriers in either 2016 or 2017. Last month, the Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denis Zvizdić, said Turkish had expressed interest in entering into a new partnership with the country's former flag carrier B&H Airlines, after Turkey hosted a similar economic forum with Bosnia to the one held with Croatia. Croatia Airlines' privatisation process has been ongoing for almost three years. Last May, the Croatian government formally selected the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to seek out potential investors by October 2015. At this point, it is unknown whether the IFC has come up with prospective buyers. The government itself has pitched the Croatian carrier to several airlines so far, but little interest has been shown. Last month, the country's State Property Management Office (DUUDI) commenced tender procedures to select a consultant to evaluate the value of a number of state-owned companies, among which is Croatia Airlines. Based on the evaluation, the government will decide whether to go ahead with the sale.


Comments

  1. Anonymous09:10

    Would definitely increase competition in the region.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:13

    This is reminding me more and more of Jat's 5 year privatization.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:53

      This really is turning into a Jat scenario. During Jat's sale we had reported interest from: Icelandair, Jet Airways, Air Asia and Turkish Airlines (I might have missed someone).

      Here we have interest from Turkish, Aegean, Lufthansa, Garuda...

      Let's hope that in the end Croatia Airlines will find a buyer that will make it more competitive on the market.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10:10

      ..Aeroflot too

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:18

      Air Baltic was the last useless speculation before Etihad stepped in.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous09:19

    Much better choice than Lufthansa in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous09:28

    Turkish buying OU doesen't make much sense to me. What could they do with them?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:47

      Use them to feed IST.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:21

      They can comfortably feed IST with their daily flights to ZAG. And they have more than enough aircraft to launch and maintain year-long routes to DBV and SPU. That's it, feeding done. No need to make strategic investments.

      Delete
    3. Purger13:50

      By same logic, what was Etihad interest in buying Jat?

      Only logic here is profit:
      - more opportunity for feeding IST (direct routes from ZAG, SPU, DBV and PUY + connections from ZAD, BWK, OSI, RJK, OMO)

      - profitable routes from ZAG to MUC, FRA, CDG, AMS, BRU, LHR, CPH... + connections from SJJ, SKP, PRN (in future also possibility from TGD, TIV, TZL) which connections are money-loosing via IST

      - real possibility to open companies also in Macedonia and BiH and to put mini-system with ZAG/SPU/DBV/PUY/ZAD/RJK/BWK/OSI - SJJ/TZL/OMO - SKP/OHR

      Delete
    4. Anonymous20:08

      Purger, JU-EY was a political deal, no logic.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous08:59

      And Tukish is not?

      Delete
  5. Anonymous09:30

    I actually think that Croatia Airlines would have developed the most under some far east Asian carrier, for example Garuda. That way you avoid becoming a feeder and are instead being fed passengers from Asia by your owner.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous09:38

      I would have thought the same but then I saw the way Korean is running CSA.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous09:44

      Why> What's wrong with that?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:30

      If I followed the news correctly, Korean did not really manage to turn CSA around and make them profitable. The company is struggling and is probably on some kind of government support because they are part of a state-owned holding that holds both CSA (56% of it, that is) and PRG airport. Korean first thought of getting additional A332 to CSA, then thought of transferring their retiring B747s to CSA, but of all this thinking somehow they always end up with that one route to ICN.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous00:41

      JU's and OK fleets are almost identical.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous09:33

    Mozda je ovo bolja opcija od Lufthanse, ali nemojmo se zanositi u Hrvatskoj ce svaka odluka koja ne dolazi iz Nemacke biti odbacena.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous09:45

    I also agree that this is a much better solution than Lufthansa. At least this way hey won't become a feeder to western European destinations and can expand normally in Europe.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09:56

    Gdje svi Turci tu i mali Mujo.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous10:07

    Good news if it actually happens.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous10:08

    Maybe they will make a regional airline that would serve Croatia and Bosnia?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:11

      I doubt they will buy OU or create a new airline in BiH.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous10:31

    Allowing Turkish in both Bosnia and Croatia is Lufthansa's dirty plan to prevent Air Serbia from being a dominant airline in the region.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:48

      What region is that?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:09

      and why dirty?

      Delete
    3. Well...possibly yes that Lufthansa would like TK's entrance, given that the "region" encompasses ExYu, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria as well...and that particular wider region has so far well been served by Austrian, Lufthansa's strongest daughter in the Star Alliance. Austrian has been a bit "bugged" by ASL's growing presence in this area so I can imagine that they would use TK to "hold off" the growing dominance of the local player... ASL is really not a threat to Lufthansa nor Austrian, but it does take away from Austrian feeding routes... OS has spread like a plague within last 25 years and it has indeed benefited greatly from the breakup of Yugoslavian market. Remember that Austrian was smaller than ex JAT in the 1980s...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:30

      Good points Petar

      Delete
    5. Anonymous13:02

      Pa da odlicna logika zamolili su TK da uzimaju i LH,OS i ASL putnike .
      INN-NS

      Delete
    6. Mali marko Lukić16:06

      Sve ovisi što bi hteli da ostvare. Ako žele da naštete u prvom redu Air Serbiji, a ne mogu to da naprave sami onda će da zatraže Turke da pomognu. Jer oni smanjuju broj letova i veličinu aviona, što jasno govori da ne mogu sami, a Turci povečavaju sve to i mogu. Znači ne mogu da spreče Turke, ali mogu da naštete Air Serbiji i da za neko vreme iz tog aranžmana profitiraju. Recimo da Lufthansa i Turkish tako pričepe Air Serbiju i klinč i da ju svedu na bivši Jat, onda bi na kraju i ono sami profitirali u povečanju linija za region.

      No, ono što svi ovde ne vidite. Nije ovde važna Air Serbija, nego je važan udarac na Etihad. I zato Lufthansa sve radi da uništi Air Berlin, Darwin (i jedno i drugo je već gotovo uspela), Alitaliju i Air Serbiju. Oni udaraju u prva tri, a četvrtu moraju da propuste Turcima u njihovoj intersnoj zoni. Jer samo tako mogu da eliminišu Etihad.

      Delete
    7. INN-NS: pa zašto bi takvo "svjesno žmirenje" od strane Lufthanse bilo nelogično ? TK je također dio Star Alliance-a, te ako već govorimo o "raspodjeli" plijena, do kojeg će doći svim budućim konsolidacijama htjeli to mi ili ne, onda je TK logičan izbor. TK je prejak za OS, ali mu nije direktna prijetnja, jer ne zadire direktno u njegovo dvorište već bi to radio preko OU... Balkan je premala regija za TK, no ovdje govorimo o prisutnosti i preslagivanju pozicija i širenju utjecaja ukoliko govorimo o sličnom modelu suradnje kakvog imaju Etihad i ASL. TK možda prione toj strategiji ukoliko od Hrvatske dobije OU za džabe, kao što je Srbija svoj Jat Etihadu dala za džabe. Naravno, ako se Vlada RH bude i dalje glupirala, te tražila neku (bil kakvu) cijenu za propalu OU, onda od tog posla ništa... Simple as that... :)

      Delete
    8. Anonymous17:17

      Its called competition. Deal with it.

      Delete
    9. CEKIC17:35

      No offence but all of you are kind of uneducated when it comes to BIG PICTURE in aviation. Both LH an TK have bigger issue to look at, and this poor and undeveloped region we are talking about is one of the last in their list.

      Delete
    10. Anonymous18:01

      TK nije direktna pretnja OS ?
      Samo sto lete za GRZ i povecavaju SZG na 10 pw i sto u VIE redovno salju A330 i 77W i gde su oterali OS da lete sezonski za IST.
      A svi znamo da Turci i UAE imaju odlicne odnose i da ASL nije pretnja TK i da su do negde u ok odnosima.
      INN-NS

      Delete
    11. Anonymous18:45

      Cekic, and that is why Turkish was owner of B&H Airlines, why they fight for Air Malta, why Etihad invest in Jat, why Qatar want's to buy small Meridiana...

      Svi su danas prijetnja svima, ali kompanije moraju procjeniti rizike, pozitivne i negativne strane, razmotriti benefite "ratovanja", posljedice preuzimanja ili nepreuzimanja... OS ne bi bila sretna da TK preuzme OU, ali još bi manje bila sretna da OU preuzme Qatar, Etihad, British, easyJet, Wizzair... Ili da Etihad preuzme Montenegro i nastavi ekspanziju preko Air Serbie, uz eventualno preuzimanje ostalih kompanija (uz Air Berlin, Darwin, Alitaliju, Jet, vjerovatno Air Maltu...)

      Delete
  12. Anonymous11:28

    That's a lot of employees for an airline the size of Croatia Airlines.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous12:38

    I would prefer Aegean

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous13:05

    Ako se desi ovo ja mislim da bi sa svakog Aerodroma iz HR imao let za IST.
    I mislim da bi se smanjio broj letova prema ostalim star hubovima .
    A mozda bi se cak i flota promenila.
    A ovo je svakako bolje za zaposlene.
    INN-NS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Purger14:01

      Kao što sam već napisao to bi značilo bar

      - 4 dnevna leta iz ZAG za IST
      - 1 dnevni let iz SPU i DBV za IST (vrlo ubrzo i 2 dnevna leta)
      - 1 dnevni let iz PUY za IST (vrlo ubrzo i dnevni let iz RJK i ZAD za IST)

      No, Turkish ima velik broj code-share ugovora sa LH i drugim kompanijama, čak i za konekcije preko FRA gdje iz IST ima direktne letove, pa me ne bi čudilo da se na ovaj način i poveča broj linija i frekvencija prema tim Zapadu i Sjeveru. Toviše što TK sa svojim felikim brojem letova uživa ogromne popuste (ako letiš 6 letova za CDG, dodatni let tvoje kompanije OU znači niže troškove za OU).

      Jedno je sigurno, ovakvim angažmanom ZAG i OU bi dobili daleko više nego sa LH:
      - ne bi imali nikakve šanse ekspanzije prema Istoku i Jugu, te na interkontinentalnim linijama, već bi sve to išlo preko IST, no i ovako i onako te linije niti ima, niti planira OU, dakle trenutno ništa ne gubi

      - ne bi se samnjio broj letova prema Zapadu i Sjeveru jer ti letovi se ne mogu konektirati preko IST, bili bi daleko preskupi, dodatnih 5-6 sati konekcija, i ni po kojoj osnovi prihvatljivi za putnike i kompaniju

      - postoji mogućnost da ZAG postane mini-hub za TK za ovu regiju i sve konekcije koje nisu isplative preko IST, dakle za Zapad i Sjever iz DBV, SPU, ZAD, PUY, OSI, SJJ, TZL, OMO, SKP, OHR, TIA, PRN, TIV, BEG, INI, OTP, SOF...)

      - TK time indirektno postaje EU prijevoznik, a tu su mogućnosti opako velike!

      Nemojmo zaboraviti da TK vjerovatno gubi utrku za Air Maltu koja će ralno otići Etihadu (Alitaliji), a onda je OU odlična alternativa

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14:28

      Tesko ce Briselska administracija (a i Zagrebacka) progutati ovakav dil cak i u slucaju da Lufthansa da zeleno svetlo (sto je u domenu naucne fantastike ).
      Sta bi OU dobila ovim poslom :

      - sigurnu, ali relativno skromnu buducnost
      - novu flotu (verovatno bez turbo prop masina)
      - profesionalnu upravu

      a sta bi izgubila :

      - nacionalni brend
      - veliki broj trenutno zaposlenih
      - sansu da leti van habova
      - manji broj aviona baziranih u ZAG

      Sve u svemu tesko !

      ATCO

      Delete
    3. Anonymous15:41

      Koliko vidim Briselska administracija je trenutno spremna da sve prihvati kada je Turksa u pitanju zbog politickih razloga.

      Ne vidim zasto bi OU izgubila brend da Turkish uzme 49%. Srpski prevoznik je dosta ojacao brend kupovinom od strane arapa. Broj zaposlenih ce morati da se smanji dosao Turkish ili ne. Mislim da se ne bi smanjio broj letova ka hubovima. Kada je Turkish kupio B&H, upravo su uveli linije za nekoliko hubova u zapadnoj evropi. Naravno, istocne linije bi isle preko IST, ali OU ni ne leti preterano na istok, osim za Tel Aviv.

      Najgore bi bilo da OU na kraju kupi neki fond poput Adrije.

      Delete
    4. Mali Marko Lukić16:12

      A što je napravila Briselska administracija kad su Arapi kupili Alitaliju i Air Berlin, u srcu Europe (Nemačkoj i Italiji)? Što je Croatia u usporedbi sa ova dva giganta? Niko i ništa! I još, što kaže čovek, sada će zbog izbeglica sve da dozvole Turcima.

      Neće Turkiš ovde da napravi Turkiš Croatiu, nego će da ostane Croatia koja će da fida Turkiš i ima nešto za zapad da leti. I to neće da bude manje nego danas. Za istok i ovako ne lete pa ništa neće da gube.

      A ovakvo stanje ne može da ostane, jer će Croatia za 5 godina da nestane. Ne prodaju Hrvati Croatiu zato što odlično radi i donosi pare, nego baš suprotno. I prodat će ju bilo kome tko hoće da uzme. A ako su pametni napraviće da to budu Turci a ne Lufthanza.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous17:09

      da 'fida' Turkic, a joj...

      Delete
    6. Anonymous18:04

      Postoji mogucnost da ce ih pretvoriti u XQ sto nebi takodje bilo lose.
      Samo mislim da ce se folota promeniti i da ce vise imati feed letova prema IST nego prema zapadu posto TK leti u skoro svako selo.
      INN-NS

      Delete
  15. Anonymous14:19

    People should keep in mind that TAV has a stake in Zagreb Airport consortium too :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous15:37

    It's good that there is some talk about privatization again. It means that things are probably moving. I hope OU gets a partner because there is strong competition in the region. Etihad has control of JU and Aliatlia, Qatar has control of Meridiana and LH is looking to strethen control of Brussels Airlines and SAS.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous16:11

    OT: Do you guys know what's going on with a seat selection option for JU JFK flights? I cannot choose a seat for JU 501 in August when I login with my reservation number, however I have successfully chosen my seats for the outbound BEG-WAW and WAW-ORD flights free of charge on ASL website

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You should probably call their center and ask why.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous16:34

    British Airways today London to Zagreb Airbus A321 (instead of A319)
    KLM today Amsterdam to Zagreb Boeing 737-900 (instead of 737-700)
    Air France tomorrow Paris to Zagreb Airbus A321 (instead of A318)

    It continues...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kada avio kompanije posalju veci avion na aerodorom,to ne znaci da je kapacitet povecan(moze znacit al i nemora)nego da je avion,koji je bio predvidjen nije slobodan,pa se ruta ustupljuje drugom avionu.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17:06

      I to je, po tebi, isključivi razlog zašto bi avio kompanija poslala veći zrakoplov? Nikako povećana potražnja? Stvarno?

      Bravo, Zagreb, bit će toga još kad otvore novi terminal!

      Delete
    3. Rekao sam da ne mora da znaci bolan,oci otvori malo.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous18:53

      In last few days there was more than 40 examples where QR, LH, AF, BA, KL, TK and others use bigger or even biggest plane (A321, 739). So it is not about disposal but it is about demand!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous20:40

      Here we go again!!! It's SUMMER SEASON!!! Everywhere around the world airlines used to put bigger aircrafts,it depends on the demand,this is not an exclusive privilege of Zagreb airport!!

      Delete
    6. Anonymous09:05

      really?

      If that's so why it was not like that last years?

      Why it is not like that in Belgrade, Ljubljana, Sarajevo, Skopje, Tivat?

      Why it was not planed like that, so they could in start plan bigger planes?

      If they send bigger planes everywhere what they do with smaller ones? Do you want to say that they have several bigger planes just in case? Of course not! Or you want to say that there are some routes that has less demand during summer and that they can just change planes with those routes? Of course not, everywhere demand is much bigger during summer!

      Delete
    7. Anonymous09:06

      And end of April is not summer season. It is far away from top season which starts at middle of June.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous09:34

      You said it yourself in the last sentence "everywhere demand is much bigger during summer",so it's not an exclusive privilege of zagreb airport,most of the airports around the world have bigger demand in summer!

      Delete
  19. Anonymous17:15

    OT: Dubrovnik airport new terminal progress

    http://dubrovacki.hr/clanak/83222/pogledajte-kako-teku-radovi-u-zracnoj-luci-u-cilipima

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous20:25

    OT: Rumors about Skopje

    http://i.imgur.com/gsR7cKG.jpg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22:27

      Brilliant news for SKP! INI will then be privileged being next to SKP and SOF - 2 future low-cost destinations. Any chance of seeing LTN go daily or DTM, BGY, CIA if W6 bases a 4th a/c? I read they will base 230 (!!) seater A321 this year in OTP, BUD, WAW and next year in SOF:

      http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/253763/wizzair-w16-a321-operations-as-of-14mar16/

      Hoping they consider SKP or BEG! ! !

      Delete
    2. Anonymous00:05

      I don't think we should get excited about the alleged 4th aircraft in SKP. First of all, neither one of those three a/c were based without subsidies. Subsidies can not be given unless they are signed by the govt. Secondly, TAV officials are known to give some crazy interviews and statements. Just remember what one of their officials said, just after they bought MKD airports. His statement was that SKP would not compete with BEG and similar airpots, but with VIENNA in terms of pax.

      I am not hatin at all, and I would be very pleased if a 4th aircraft is based in SKP and if they open new routes (my guess would be BUD). However it is not happening any time soon.

      Delete

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